Zero-distance phase front of an isoplanar optical system

•Walter’s wave interpretation of eikonals allows treating “the zero-distance phase front” of the real optical system as a geometrical representation of its wave aberration function.

The concept of “the zero-distance phase front” of an isoplanar optical system is used to describe its aberration. It is shown that Walther’s wave interpretation of eikonals allows treating “the zero-distance phase front” as the wave aberration function of the optical system and calculating its transverse aberrations.